Posted: Sun, May 27, 2012, 6:40 AM ET (1040 GMT)
China launched a satellite late Saturday for civil and possibly military communications. The Long March 3B rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 11:56 am EDT (1556 GMT, 11:56 pm Beijing time) Saturday and placed the 5,200-kilogram Chinasat 2A satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. According to Chinese officials the satellite will be used for relaying radio and television programming and "broadband multimedia transmissions", but Western observers believe the satellite is also, or instead, used for military communications.